Pick an AI route, set your price, clients and hours, and see your monthly and first-year net, your real hourly rate and the clients you need to replace a salary. The defaults come from our guides: agency routes price at $500 to $3,500 per client or project. Every result is an estimate before tax.
It depends on the route and on how many clients say yes, so the useful answer is the range you work out for yourself. At the defaults, an AI automation agency selling one $3,000 build a month on $29 of tools nets $2,971 a month at full speed, about $69 for each hour of a 10-hour week. Hourly AI training work at $20 for 10 hours a week comes to about $867 a month with no tool costs.
Those are the prices in our guides run through the arithmetic, not reports of what anyone earned. Most people take longer than they hope to land the first client, so check the half-clients line before you count on any of it.
Revenue is your price times your clients or projects a month, or your hourly rate times your hours if you charge by the hour. Net is revenue minus your monthly AI tool bill. Your real hourly rate divides net by every hour you put in, unpaid sales and admin included.
The ramp-up adds your clients evenly: with a 3-month ramp you run at a third in month one, two thirds in month two and full speed from month three. Tool costs start in month one. The first-year figure adds up all 12 months that way. Income tax and self-employment tax are not taken off.
Each route's price, client count, hours and ramp-up come from the matching RichTactic guide: its pricing table, its earnings section or its first-30-days plan. Where a guide gives a range, we start at the low end. Tool costs are the guide's own figures, plus vendor prices we checked in October 2026 where the guide gives none: Claude Pro at $20 billed monthly, the Instantly Growth plan at $47 and the Clay Launch plan at $185.
The salary default is $64,000, close to the US median for full-time wage and salary workers: $1,232 a week in the third quarter of 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
| Route | Default price | Tools a month | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI automation agency | $3,000 a build | $29 | The guide prices a first clinic build at around $3,000, with $500 a month after it to maintain it. Most people land a first client inside two months. |
| AI voice agency | $1,000 a client a month | $37 | Basic audio conversion retainers are $1,000 a month and full production $2,000. Two to four weeks is a normal run-up before the first paid month. |
| AI chatbot and agent developer | $3,500 a build | $200 | A fixed-price dental appointment agent sells at $3,500, and maintenance contracts add $500 to $2,000 a month. The guide expects no income in month one. |
| AI bookkeeping | $500 a client a month | $20 | Aim for $500 a month per client at 1 to 2 hours of work each. The guide plans on 3 to 5 clients in the first three months. |
| AI content repurposing | $1,000 a client a month | $100 | Starter packages run $1,000 to $1,500 a month, tools $100 to $200, and each client takes about 7 hours a week. |
| AI lead generation agency | $2,000 a client a month | $252 | A typical deal is $2,000 a month base plus $200 per qualified meeting (the bonus is not counted here). The guide aims for 2 to 3 clients, with first retainers in month two or three. |
| AI ad agency | $1,500 a client a month | $150 | The guide's working assumption is $1,500 to $3,000 a month per retainer at about 5 hours a client a week, with AI creative tools around $150 a month. |
| AI training and data annotation | $20 an hour | $0 | Entry tasks pay $12 to $25 an hour. Mercor puts the average at $31 and expert tiers at $75 to $200. |
| AI wrapper app | $19 a user a month | $87 | The guide's example plan is $19 a month, and 30 paying users is close to its first $500 milestone. Count users as clients. |
| AI sales agent (SDR) service | $2,000 a client a month | $150 | The going rate is $2,000 to $5,000 a month per client at about 5 hours a client a week, with tooling around $150 a month. |
| AI assistant and concierge service | $1,000 a client a month | $200 | Concierge tiers start at $1,000 to $1,500 a month, with about 4 hours of your review per client a week and a tool stack under $200. |
Our AI automation agency guide prices a first clinic build at around $3,000 with $500 a month after it to keep it running, and puts maintenance retainers at $500 to $2,000 a month. One build a month and no retainers nets about $2,971 after $29 of tools. Each retainer you keep adds to that without a new sale.
Choose the automation agency route above and switch the price to your retainer to see how many maintenance clients would cover your bills.
Divide the salary you want to replace by 12, add your monthly tool bill, then divide by your price. At $64,000 a year that is $5,333 a month: 11 clients at $500, 6 at $1,000 or 2 builds at $3,000, before tools. Self-employment tax comes on top, so matching your gross salary still leaves you a little behind the job.
It is an estimate. It uses the prices in our guides and the numbers you enter, and it assumes every client pays every month. It leaves out tax, refunds, clients who leave and any delay beyond your ramp-up. Use the half-clients figure in your report as the number to plan around.
Yes. In the US, money from clients is self-employment income. You owe income tax plus self-employment tax of 15.3% on net earnings once they reach $400 in a year. Our side hustle tax calculator works out what to set aside.
Usually one paid AI assistant and the one tool your route runs on. Claude Pro is $20 a month billed monthly. An automation agency adds Make.com from $9 a month, a voice agency adds ElevenLabs from $22, and a lead generation agency adds Instantly at $47 and Clay at $185. AI training work needs no paid tools.
Our guides put first money at 2 to 4 weeks for AI voice work, content repurposing and assistant services, and 4 to 8 weeks for bookkeeping, chatbot builds and lead generation. Those are typical runs. Set a longer ramp-up if you are starting with no portfolio.